As mentioned in an earlier post about this year's vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida we are staying during week 1 at Disney's BoardWalk Villas.
While this is a Deluxe Resort inside Walt Disney World, I selected this location for several reasons, including:
Incredible convenience; it is within walking distance to Epcot theme park on the one side and Disney's Hollywood Studio's on the other
As is the case with any Disney resort inside Walt Disney World, one does not need a … [Read more...]

A departure from our usual home renovation, energy conservation and money saving articles today.
Since we are quickly closing in on the BCS championship in college football and Notre Dame has finished its 2010 college football season with its game against the Miami Hurricane in the Sun Bowl, I thought I would write about the following book which I received for Christmas and just finished reading:
Notre Dame and the Game That Changed Football: How Jesse Harper Made the Forward Pass a Weapon … [Read more...]

Over the past several weeks we have been reviewing different uses of PAR 20 LED light bulbs in the ceiling of:
Bathroom
Bedrooms
Potty Rooms
Today I wanted to show you another area of the bathroom where we ended up using several of these extremely low wattage energy saving and therefore money saving LED light bulbs from The Home Depot.
Now, here is a picture of the mirror in our shared bathroom.
Notice the set of 5 light outlets directly above the mirror.
For three years … [Read more...]

In our prior article within this series on using energy and money saving LED light bulbs in the home, we showed how we used 3.5 Watt PAR 20 LED light bulbs in recessed ceiling lights in our daughter's bathroom and bedroom.
Today, I wanted to show two areas in the other en suite bathroom in our home where we used this very low wattage LED lighting.
First, remember my strategy for using two of these 3.5 Watt LED Par 20 LED light bulbs in my daughter's bathroom ceiling?
Well, I tried the … [Read more...]

In our prior article reviewing the use of The Home Depot's 9 Watt EcoSmart LED light bulb, model A19, we took a look at using this new electricity saving light bulb in a table lamp, reading lamp and a flood lamp where it works very well.
Today's article reviewing the every day use of the 9 Watt LED version of the 40 Watt incandescent workhorse light bulb used in North American homes for decades takes a look at how it performs in two fairly typical ceiling light outlet situations.
For the … [Read more...]

In our last article within this series on LED light bulbs for the home, I discussed why LEDs are superior to CFL light bulbs.
There were numerous reasons for my preference of LEDs vs CFLs or the old fashioned incandescent light bulbs which we detailed in the above referenced article. It is important, I think, to be reminded about the benefits of using any new technology.
So, in summation, the reasons why I prefer using LED lighting in my home include:
Lights in a home accounts for … [Read more...]

A few weeks ago we received the Honeywell 360 portable room heater to review.
This was very timely. The weather outside is getting colder; and, my home office, where I spend a lot of time is the coolest room in the house.
Now, the Honeywell 360 degree Surround Heater is meant per the product packaging to heat an entire room.
Here are the product specifications from the packaging:
Rated 1500W, 120 VAC
Adjustable thermostat
Two heat settings
Easy grip handle
360 degree … [Read more...]

In the past two days we have written about, with pictures and videos, the Mint robotic appliance to clean your home's tile, hardwood and linoleum floors.
You can access here our first article in this product review series describing the Mint floor cleaning appliance.
Next, you can access this second article to see how well it cleaned in our tiled bathrooms and laundry room.
Today we look at how this product performs first on hardwood floors and second on a floor with an opening to a … [Read more...]

A while ago we were asked if we wanted to receive for purposes of writing a product review the Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner, which is one of the new robotic type of floor cleaners on the market.
This household electronic product retails for around $250 in several on line and retail stores in the USA. It is used to dust and clean hardwood and tile and linoleum floors.
Knowing that sometimes weekly dusting of the floors in our home doesn't get done, and that it would be cool to have our own … [Read more...]

Two days ago we reviewed our installation of the Elements electric towel warmer we received free from the very nice people at WarmlyYours. I recommended you use the above link to review our installation experience when you have need.
Today, we complete our review of the Elements electric towel warmer product which can quickly turn your bathroom into a luxurious bathroom.
For us, the need is more basic. One of our family members has special challenges and is always freezing for numerous … [Read more...]

Daylight Savings Time ends for 2010 in most areas of Canada and the USA on November 7th.
Usually, in the spring when we turn the clocks ahead and in the fall when when we turn the clocks back one hour we are taught to do things like check the batteries in our smoke and carbon dioxide detectors, check the expiration date of any fire extinguishers we may have in the home and check the air filters in our central furnace, etc.
Well, what if you do not have a fire extinguisher in your … [Read more...]

With the decision yesterday by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) regarding ground-mounted solar PV projects (64.2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh)), I have to applaud the OPA for not making this change in the pricing retroactive.
In an email received from the OPA, which likely was received to all those registered under the microFIT program, it states:
"The Ontario Power Authority has announced that it has finalized the price for the new microFIT ground-mounted solar PV category at 64.2 cents … [Read more...]